Place: Northumberland - Castles 2

Secondary Research

Some much needed reading from Nanna's library. She came across a load of old books giving me a tonne of resources to find out more about the castles I intended to research. 

Dunstanburgh castle - English Heritage booklet

Northumberland' Steve Newman and Graeme Peacock

The Northumberland signature

'Northumberland' 1953 The Queens England education committee and Hodder and Stoughton, by Richard Clay.

'Northumbrian Heritage' Nancy Ridley 1968

 ' Portrait of Northumberland' Nancy Ridley 1965

 Notes Taken from all of the books, info about each of the castles.

The Castles

ALNWICK

- Wasn't a great tourist attraction as a castle, numbers fell. So the Earl of Northumbria invested into the property, to help diversify, his wife made Alnwick gardens with a grant.

- Now a massive tourist attraction.

- It was voted one of the best towns in Britain to live.

- Heavily involved in border wars

- The scottish king, William the lion was captured here.

- It was sold to the Percy family in 1309 and remains to them this very day.

- In the 18th century it was in a ruinous state, the first Duke of Northumberland is responsible for the castle surviving through the ages.

- Recent productions filmed here include, 'Robin hood prince of thieves', all the 'Harry potter' films and seen within the series of 'Blackadder'

- Set above the river Aln

- Beautiful remains of the Alnwick Abbey are close

- IN the residence of the Duke of Northumberland

- Grade I listed building

- Built to protect Englands northern border against the Scottish invasions.

- Currently the Duke lives in the castle but occupy only some of it. The rest open to public.

- It's the second largest inhabited castle in England

- Alnwick is the tenth most-visited stately home in England according to Historic Houses Association, with 195,504 visitors in 2006. 

ALNWICK GARDEN

- Opened just ten years ago

- It has the country's largest collection of European plants in the ornamental garden

- A variety of unusual plants can be found in the poison garden

- Water features of children to play in

- Bamboo Labrinth

- Huge tree house open to public

- Rose garden

- It cost 42 million to construct

- The tree house was built in 2004 and is 6,000sq ft. Its one of the largest tree houses in the world.

DUNSTANBURGH

- Set on a coastal headland

- Built by second Earl of Lancaster in 1313 - 1316, Nephew of King Edward ||.

- Since 1984 the castle has been in the care of the English Heritage.

- Outstanding feature - massive gatehouse offering good protection to villagers and their animals in the event of a raid from the scots.

- In 1399 it became a royal castle, to Henry |V

- It was massively damaged during the wars of the roses.

- It's a major icon in Northumberland

WARKWORTH

- Erected 1150 by Henry, Earl of Northumberland

- Three scences of Shakespears 'Henry the fourth' have their setting at Warkworth castle.

- Pleasant riverside walks

- Popular place on tourist trail

- Art galleries, tea rooms and restaurant made the village one of the most sought after places to live in the country.

- Warkworth beach is very popular

- Proffesor Hamilton Thompson : " The epitome of the history of the castle from its Norman origin to its practical identification in the later middle ages with the large manor house."

BAMBURGH

- Stands guard over one of Northumberland's most beautiful beaches.

- There's been a fortress in Bamburgh since 547 A.D

- It's significance has seen it rebuilt several times.

- Popular with film and television producers, has been seen in 'Beckett' and 'Braveheart'.

- The castle was once a boarding school for 34 girls.

- Lord Armstrong bought and restored the castle during the 1800's.

- The castle holds many rare items, including the cradle of Queen Anne

.....

To Summarise

By doing this research, it gave me a real understanding of the castles both for modern and historic reasons. I really came to like Alnwick castle, and it's use within Northumberland. It seemed to have the most information and reference throughout all research done. Personally, I have an interest in it, as a child I visited the place many a time. With this in mind, I think I would like to focus entirely on Alnwick castle.